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Thursday, 15 March 2012

The Man Who Stole Football

Amidst much, gnashing of teeth at his words and hearty
guffawing at his stumble into an ornamental fountain, the irony of the Premier
League Chairman talking about the theft of the game was not lost on me.

Richards himself is a prime exhibit of all that is wrong
with the commercial, yet conversely archaic, behemoth that football has become.
A man with no great record in business (his engineering business went into
administration) takes over the running of his hometown club. A willingness to
be a central figure, to talk to the media, tobe seen and heard by the connected people, whilst behind the scenes
barking orders at his minnions like a Bond villain with a cat in his lap. Then
once his public exposure and pleasantries have allowed him to reach the
position he wants, he walks away leaving behind a trail of financial decisions
that lead to a financial time-bomb from which the club would struggle to
recover.

Richards cast little thought to the club he supported as
now, thanks to Ken Bates, he was on the Premier League board and on a fast
track to chairmanship. He was the kindly faced uncle, the media friendly figure
to wheel out on big occasion whilst remaining subservient to his paymasters.
The fact he then received a knighthood for services to football, must owe more
to friendships in government and sporting authorities than any real
achievements. I challenge you to name one success, one achievement that can be
attributed to Richards' stewardship or initiative.

As a Blade I should revel in the catastrophic contracts and
commercial decision making Sheffield Wednesday undertook under Richards'
stewardship, which took them to the brink of administration. And in a purely
tribal way I do, however Richards is not a lone figure wreaking havoc . There
are chairmen like him all over the country, the ones who demand the media
attention above that of those on the pitch, that place personal attention above
the club they profess to love.

The game was lost to its people, the fans, twenty years ago.
When matches started being played at 12pm on a Sunday, or that trip to the
other end of the country was moved to Friday night for TV. That's before Europa
League games started kicking off at 6pm to maximise the number of televised
games. Fans cannot associate with player salaries or lifestyles. They cannot
understand how failed businessmen are allowed to take over their club, when the
authorities have rules in place to stop them. Why claim to have Fit &
Proper rules if they are such a blunt instrument and reportedly too financially
prohibitive to administer? Then these same businessmen fail to pay over the tax
that these supporters don't think twice about paying over in their everyday
working and business lives.

As the club enters administration, it's the players and
clubs who are protected, not the local businesses who have supplied them and
could be put out of business themselves, not the local people exploited and
paid a pittance for the pleasure of taking on menial roles for the club they
love.

Then, every so often, the authorities and Premier League get
involved, but only when they have their "product" to protect.
Everyone else affected….forget it.

Yes, maybe I look back at football twenty years ago with rose-tinted
spectacles. Not all was good in the game, but everyone had an opportunity to
watch their team play, very few were excluded through price discrimination.
Football was a game everyone could play and watch and feel a part of.

Football was stolen away from the man in the street 20 years
ago. It raised little stir at the time, many couldn't see it. A small petty
theft, glossed over with the distraction of cheerleaders, half time
entertainment and flash presentation. Once the thieves realised they had got
away with, they looked at the mark and the plans became grander. The grand con
was on; what we can now see was a staged heist of our sporting jewels. The game
is now a "product", supporters are "customers" on
"loyalty databases" measured by how much you can spend, those
excluded by financial hardship sniffed at.

And then the coup de grace - The 39th Game. Add an extra game to the season, only to take
away the opportunity for the supporters, who spend a high proportion of their
wages following their team all season, to see it.All for the money and opportunity to take the
"product" to the "geographic markets" that Richards so
widely offended with his jingoistic comments yesterday.

His clear conflict of interest, between roles at the FA and
Premier League, brushed under the carpet whenever it was raised. The FA is now
impotent in the running of the professional game, it has admitted as much
recently.The subservience of Dave
Richards to his Premier League paymasters makes him wholly complicit in allowing
it to happen. If he is looking for a thief, he doesn't have to look far. The
thing is, I am not sure he is intelligent or self-aware enough to see it. He certainly
didn’t see that ornamental fountain.